Catherine E. Freeman serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. In this capacity, she acts as the principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary on the formulation, development and execution of policy affecting the delivery of education in Pre-K through grade 12. She also orchestrates the Office's activities required for the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) to ensure states, districts, and schools are accountable for providing every child with a quality education.

Prior to her appointment, Freeman was a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education where she managed the implementation of the accountability and assessment provisions of NCLB. She began her career at the Department as a Research Associate with the Annual Reports Program at the National Center for Education Statistics.

Dr. Freeman's research includes resource allocation, the impact of racial segregation on teacher quality, teacher supply and demand, educational equity and adequacy, education reform strategies, educational accountability, and urban school reform. Additionally, she has written papers for Georgia's Governor's Education Reform Study Commission on increasing school level flexibility and the roles and responsibilities of state educational agencies and has worked with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission to study teacher labor market projections. She served on the staff of Georgia's "Closing the Gap Commission" and the Atlanta School Board Charter Review Commission.

A native of Maryland, Dr. Freeman has a Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Education from the University of Texas-Austin, and a Doctorate of Philosophy from Vanderbilt University.